Sherlock Holmes on screen

Cumberbatch & Freeman

The game is afoot! Benedict Cumberbatch as
Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson in the BBC's modern-day version of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective, "Sherlock."

Cumberbatch is only one of at least 160 actors who have played
the resident of 221B Baker Street in films and on TV - according to one survey,
Holmes has been portrayed more frequently on screen than any other literary creation.

Click through this gallery to see some of the more memorable
actors who have brought Doyle's unstoppable creation to life.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

Credit: BBC

Tom Baker

The Good Doctor donned a deerstalker cap for the
1982 BBC miniseries, "The Hound of the Baskervilles" - one of at
least 21 film or TV versions of Doyle's classic tale.

Credit: BBC

John Barrymore

John Barrymoore starred as Holmes opposite
Roland Young as Dr. Watson in the 1922 film, "Sherlock Holmes," based
on William Gillette's stage adaptation of several Doyle stories.

Credit: Goldwyn

Jeremy Brett

Jeremy Brett starred as Holmes in a series of
British TV productions in the 1980s and '90s, after playing Watson opposite
Charlton Heston's Holmes on stage.

Credit: Grenada

Clive Brook

Clive Brook played Sherlock Holmes in films
twice, in 1929 and 1932.

Credit: Fox

Michael Caine

John Cleese

After portraying Sherlock Holmes on TV in 1972, Monty Python's John Cleese played Arthur Sherlock Holmes, the bumbling
grandson of the famed detective, in "The Strange Case of the End of
Civilization As We Know It" (1977), with Arthur Lowe as Dr. Watson.

Credit: London Weekend Television

Peter Cook

In one
of the more unfortunate comedic takes on the Arthur Conan Doyle canon, Peter
Cook and Dudley Moore starred as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in Paul
Morrisey's spoof of "The Hound of the Baskervilles." The deductive geniuses never sounded sillier.

Credit: Hemdale

Benedict Cumberbatch

In a
modernized take on the Doyle stories, Benedict Cumberbatch (right) and Martin
Freeman star as Holmes and Watson in 21st century London in the BBC series,
"Sherlock."

Credit: BBC

Peter Cushing

The 1959 Hammer Studios film of "The Hound
of the Baskervilles" starred Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes.

Credit: Hammer

James D'Arcy

James D'Arcy, as novice detective Sherlock
Holmes, examines some grey matter up close in the 2002 TV movie,
"Sherlock."

Credit: USA Network

Robert Downey Jr.

The 2009 adventure "Sherlock Holmes," starring Robert Downey Jr. as the superhero-detective (with Jude Law as Watson), was a brawny success, spawning a sequel, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows."

Credit: Warner Brothers

William Gillette

Stage
actor William Gillette - allegedly described by Arthur Conan Doyle as the best
thespian to tackle his creation - starred in his own successful stage adaptation of
the Sherlock Holmes stories, and later portrayed the character in a 1916 film.

Credit: Essanay

Ronald Howard

Ronald Howard, son of "Gone With the
Wind" star Leslie Howard, appeared as Sherlock Holmes in a syndicated TV
series in 1954-55. Shot in France, only a few of the 39 episodes are based on
Doyle's stories.

Credit: Guild Films

Frank Langella

Frank Langella starred in a revival of William
Gillette's 1899 play, "Sherlock Holmes," which was taped for
broadcast by HBO.

Credit: HBO

Christopher Lee

After playing Sir Henry Baskerville opposite
Peter Cushing's Sherlock Holmes in Hammer's "Hound of the
Baskervilles," Lee took a turn playing the detective himself in a
German-backed production, "Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace"
(1962), directed by Hammer favorite Terence Fisher.

Credit: Constantin Film

Jonny Lee Miller

Another modern take on Doyle, "Elementary" stars
Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu as a female Dr. Watson in the
series set in contemporary New York City.

Credit: CBS

Roger Moore

In the 1976 TV movie, "Sherlock Holmes in New York," Roger Moore as Holmes pursues arch-foe Moriarty across the Atlantic.

Credit: 20th Century Fox

John Neville

Years before playing the mysterious "Well-Manicured Man" on "The X Files," John Neville played Sherlock Holmes in pursuit of Jack the Ripper in the 1965 thriller, "A Study in Terror."

Chrisopher Plummer

Jonathan Pryce

Sherlock Holmes (Jonathan Pryce) is on the case with the assistance of some street kids who help solve a murder, in the 2007 children's film, "Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars."

Credit: BBC

Basil Rathbone

Basil Rathbone was Hollywood's most memorable player of Sherlock Holmes. He starred in the 1939 version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles," and made 13 more films, for 20th Century Fox and Universal, as Doyle's detective.

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Rathbone & Bruce

Look out, Holmes! Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson and Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in "The Woman in Green" (1945).

While the earliest films starring the pair as Doyle's detectives were set in the period of the source novels, later films were set in the present day, allowing the genius detective to match wits against Nazi spies while wearing a fedora.

Credit: Universal Pictures

Ian Richardson

In 1982 Ian Richardson starred in two TV adaptations of Doyle stories, "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Sign of Four."

Credit: Mapleton Films

Nicholas Rowe

In Barry Levinson's origin tale, "Young Sherlock Holmes" (written by Chris Columbus), Nicholas Rowe played the boy detective meeting the future Dr. Watson at boarding school. Together they embark on the trail of an ancient Egyptian cult.

Robert Stephens

Billy Wilder ("Some Like It Hot") directed and co-wrote "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970), which starred Robert Stephens as the detective whose investigation into a missing engineer takes him to Scotland, where an appearance of the Loch Ness monster proves to be something else much more nefarious.

Credit: United Artists

Nicol Williamson

In "The Seven Percent Solution" (1976), based on Nicholas Meyer's novel, Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson) and Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) seek the aid of Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin) to cure Holmes' cocaine addiction - and to solve a mystery locked in the great detective's subconscious.

Credit: Universal Pictures

Douglas Wontner

Douglas Wontner played Sherlock Holmes in five U.K. films in the 1930s, including "The Sleeping Cardinal," "The
Missing Rembrandt" (considered a lost film), "The Sign of Four,"
"The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes," and "Silver Blaze."

Credit: Warner Brothers

Edward Woodward

john Hillerman, long a second banana to the star of "Magnum P.I.," played Dr. Watson to Edward Woodward's Sherlock Holmes in the 1990 TV movie, "Hands of a Murderer."

Credit: CBS

Hans Albers

The popularity of Sherlock Holmes led not only to authorized versions of Doyle stories but also comedic riffs on the highly popular character. In the 1937 German film, "The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes," Hans Albers and Heinz Ruhmann play detectives who impersonate Holmes and Watson. They get into hot water, only to be rescued by none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself!

Credit: UFA

George C. Scott

Based on the play by James Goldman ("The Lion in Winter"), "They Might Be Giants" (1971) stars George C. Scott as a man convinced he is Holmes. Joined by his psychiatrist, Dr. Watson (Joanne Woodward), he sets off in pursuit of the villainous Moriarty.

Credit: Universal Pictures

Brent Spiner

In an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation,"
Holmes fan Data (Brent Spiner) becomes the character in a Holodeck recreation of
an ersatz Arthur Conan Doyle mystery, complete with arch villain Moriarty (who
has some surprises in store for the Enterprise computer).

Credit: Paramount Television

"Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century"

Thanks to cellular regeneration, a scientist of the future brings back to life the fabled detective who - aided by his robotic sidekick Watson - tackles mysteries that Doyle buffs might consider cellular regenerations themselves, in the 1996 cartoon series, "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century."